Ridiculous tax increase

Hello my name, well not my name. But I am a Jersey City lifelong resident, and home owner, and I read in the paper that the taxes are going up. Says that the owner of a home assessed at $100,000 would see an increase of $800 in their tax bill in just the first quarter of 2010. And with the upcoming estimated tax homeowners will be hit with an increase of nearly 30 percent of the first quarter. It went up last year, and now it's a $44 million budget deficit over last year. Ridiculous! Mayor Healy, stop drinking and singing, and start thinking. I'll have to sell my home and move out of the city, I can't afford to pay these high taxes any longer.
WALTER
JERSEY CITY

Don't need you in U.S.

For two weeks we have seen comments about advertising by the Hard Grove Cafe with a photograph of Che Guevara. This man is responsible for so many deaths and so many massacres that it's irrelevant to get into it right now. I would like to leave a comment for the Hard Rock Cafe, and I don't mention their name in a positive way because they have enough people against them right now. Don't think the FBI isn't watching you, Hard Grove, because this puts you right smack on the FBI list and I hope that America gets rid of this restaurant. We don't need people like you in America.
JANET
HUDSON COUNTY

Turn lights off during day

I'd like to make a comment about the street lights that are running 24 hours a day, day and night. I've been reporting them over the years and still seems to be a problem that nobody else is paying attention to in North Bergen. I'm just wondering why somebody from the town does not look at these things because obviously the taxpayers pay for that light to run 24 hours a day. I was told that a long time ago that the town pays for the street lights to PSE&G. So why isn't PSE&G or someone from the township viewing the street lights every once in a while to make sure they're running properly? I've seen it in North Bergen, I've seen it in Union City, and I've seen it in Jersey City running day and night. I just hope they're reading this article and paying attention too. And I hope anybody else reading this article should call the mayor's office and let them know that the street lights are running during the day in their neighborhoods also.
ADRIAN JOHNSON
NORTH BERGEN

Help Egypt's Christians

Hi, my name is Samy Moharab. I am interested that there is no any news about the protest we made, around 15 Christian Coptics from Egypt, in the front of the United Nations. I am surprised that nobody of the newspapers Daily News, New York Times, or even The Jersey Journal wrote about this. This looks strange for us. We ask you to help the Christians of Egypt. At least about what happened to us in Egypt. You have all the details on the Web site of freecoptics.net.
SAMY MOHARAB
HUDSON COUNTY

Needed to be up front

For years I've heard the expression: bearing the news. But I've never really appreciated what that meant until I've read my Wednesday Jersey Journal dated Jan. 20. After going through the news about Christie, going to Haiti news, going to various little articles, going to big page articles, going to the very important news on Wal-mart which is earth-shattering, going onto page 15, going through all the notices of obituaries, I finally get to page 22. Lo and behold, before we got to the classifieds and the legal notices there was a little article that a Republican candidate wins a Massachusetts U.S. Senate seat. I mean this is major news. This is the third major defeat for Obama, who's gone personally to places to try to sway the votes. Didn't succeed in New Jersey.
It also says in this article another major loss, it just so happens that the head of the Senate campaign committee happens to be somebody by the name of Menendez. Robert Menendez, seemed that he didn't do his job either, he didn't pull it off, but this is on page 22. I do believe this could've been closer to the front, not by the ads. This is not inconsequential, it should've been in a more prominent position. Please be considerate where you putting things.
SHEILA
UNION CITY

End this needless travel

I am commenting on the letter about "Trenton trips a real burden," by Joan Terrell Paige. I agree with Joan Terrell Paige. Anyone born before 1965 shouldn't have the burden of going down to Trenton, whether they can drive or can't drive, to get a birth certificate. Someone should alleviate this and have everyone who needs one go down to the Hudson County. I wish that one of the politicians would take heed to this message.
MARIE CARLSON
JERSEY CITY

Lots of Medicaid fraud

My name is Callas. I moved to Bayonne from Georgia and then my husband died and I moved to another place and came back here again. Let me tell you, I know people here who are on Medicaid who shouldn't be on Medicaid. I can't get over how they don't get caught. I'm 67, I pay everything. I pay for this, I pay for that.
They go out with their children, buy a new car. They don't care. They have their money put away, they go to Atlantic City, they don't care. They sell drugs -- they don't care. We know one person in Jersey City that gets everything in Jersey City. She's got a beautiful home and everything.
Why doesn't the government check Medicare? Go around to some of these places and see what happens. We work hard all our lives and we have to pay co-payment here and co-payment there. We can't afford it and sometimes we take it out of our food money. Please put an investigation on what's going on with Medicaid and check on the doctors giving them discounts.
Look at the poor people in Haiti, they're dying like anything. They have nothing to eat. And the people here don't appreciate anything. I wish that the United States would do something about fraud in Medicaid and welfare.
CALLAS
BAYONNE

Yes, deny his pension

This is in reference to Guy Catrillo, a former member of Mayor Jerramiah Healy's Constituents Services Bureau, who admitted taking $15,000 in return for promising to help the informant secure building approvals. Now in reference to getting two months in jail, a state board will determine whether Catrillo will forfeit his pension as a result of a crime?
I think that some people in this administration were hit in the head with a brick for thinking they were deserving a pension? Just look at what they were doing while they were working: they were taking bribes. So take the bribes, forget the pension, call it even and go to jail for 18 months. If that guy receives any pension, that is a crime in itself. And that state board should be arrested and prosecuted because they were trying to steal, just the same way this guy was trying to steal.
ANONYMOUS
BAYONNE